Tony Romo: 'No one out there ... can beat me out' as Cowboys' starter

Tony Romo would have felt secure as the starting quarterback in Dallas, even if the Cowboys had picked Johnny Manziel in last week's draft. (Stacy Revere / Getty Images)

Tony Romo was just fine with all the speculation that Dallas might take former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel in the first round of the NFL draft last week.

Of course, we now know that they went with offensive lineman Zack Martin instead and that Manziel went to Cleveland at No. 22 overall. But before all that happened, Romo told the Cowboys himself that he wouldn't lose any sleep if they decided to snatch up Johnny Football.

Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones said Wednesday that he and Romo discussed the matter before the draft.

"Of course, his response, as you might expect from Tony, was, 'Well, if you decide to, it ain't going to matter, there's no one out there who can beat me out," Jones told Mad Dog Sports Radio's Adam Schein.

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Romo certainly was right about that. He's just entering the six-year contract he signed with the team last year that reportedly included somewhere between $40 million to $57 million in guaranteed money. Somebody deemed worth that kind of money is unlikely to end up on the bench any time soon.

Plus, Jerry Jones loves Romo. The Cowboys owner has shown plenty of patience with any inconsistencies his quarterback has shown over the last eight years, even though his team hasn't made the playoffs or had a winning season since 2009.

So there was pretty much no way Romo was going to end up on the bench, even behind someone as dynamic and exciting as Manziel. And even though it would be great for the Cowboys to have a former Heisman Trophy winner as an insurance policy at QB, can you imagine the circus that would start the very first time Romo had a rough outing.

All the Cowboys needed to do was ask current backup quarterback Kyle Orton how those kinds of situations work out. Orton was the guy ousted in favor of Tim Tebow basically by extremely vocal Denver Broncos fans a few years ago.

But now Romo can feel more secure than ever in his role as Dallas' starting QB -- although lack of confidence doesn't seem to have been an issue with him.